More than a century old, in desperate need of repairs, the 30,000-square-foot Lauderdale County Courthouse has been a topic of debate since renovation was first discussed 40 years ago. 

Well-documented issues such as an antiquated ventilation system, black mold, insufficient emergency exits, paint and plaster peeling from the walls and ceilings, exposed wires, bolted windows in the grand jury room and offensive odors in the county courtroom have been studied and studied again, but they have yet to be physically addressed.

Meanwhile, county employees continue to work in the building, and likely will for months, while elected officials wait for new recommendations and deliberate.

Currently, the Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors is working with construction manager W.G. Yates & Sons Construction and Bob Luke of LPK Architects P.A., the latest commissioned to find solutions.

“The only thing to do is to fix it,” Board President and District 3 Supervisor Josh Todd said. “This needs to last through my grandkids. So we need to shut it down, gut it and completely rebuild it from the inside out — we’re going to have to.”

The board is considering options including remodeling the existing courthouse and adding extra space or relocating courthouse operations to another location, according to Lauderdale County Administrator Chris Lafferty.

Faced with estimates of at least $30 million to solve the problems, the supervisors have yet to reach a consensus on a favored option. The majority of the board, however, now leans toward saving the current building as part of the solution.

Here are their thoughts, which show a range of opinions on how to move forward:

District 4 Supervisor Joe Norwood

Norwood favors moving county government operations to the old Value Fair Mall site, off 22nd Avenue, and renovating the courthouse to be used strictly for court.

“When we go into [the courthouse] to renovate — with how long it’s been — what will happen is you will get in there and find some problems that you didn’t expect and the cost is going to run over,” Norwood said. “…It looks like it’s the board’s decision to build something next to the courthouse and attach it. We’re out of space at the courthouse. Until we can find somewhere to put people, I don’t see how we’re going to renovate anything. You can’t renovate something with people in it.”

Norwood also stated concern over parking in the area, which will only get worse when the Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Experience is completed in the spring.

“Now you’re talking about putting an additional wing next to the courthouse? If you look across the street, there are probably 60 cars across that little block,” Norwood said.

Norwood suggested moving the Meridian Lauderdale County Tourism Bureau to the old fire station, along with turning the old JC Penney building into a banquet hall for the city and county.

“To me, that spot has more potential than trying to stuff a building in the middle of the street,” Norwood said.

District 1 Supervisor Jonathan Wells

Wells said he would like to see courthouse operations temporarily relocated to the old federal courthouse, home of Meridian’s downtown post office.

“So we find some of our people there and then we renovate the current courthouse, and we do a slight add-on out to the east side of the current courthouse,” Wells said. “If there’s anything that’s left that needs to be done as far as housing people, we still have room in the annex to do something.”

Wells said the county’s “good bonding capacity” will make it easy for the county to move forward with the project. He is also considering the “lease-purchase option,” where an investor purchases the courthouse, allowing the county to finance the courthouse project and pay back the investor — like a mortgage.

“I don’t know if that’s a great option, we just know that is an option,” Wells said.

“There’s so many options out there that we have to educate ourselves and find the best deal for our people,” Wells said, adding that he hopes to see the project moving forward by the first of the year. “This is going to be our legacy.”

District 5 Supervisor Kyle Rutledge

Rutledge said he is waiting on Yates to deliver “good, firm numbers” before he can make an informed decision concerning the courthouse.

“I’m trying to figure out the best way to do it and be able to best serve the taxpayers, but also do it within our means,” Rutledge said.

“I’m still scared about renovating the courthouse. That’s one of the last things I want to do… We could build a new building next to the old building and begin to renovate [the courthouse], even if it took 10 years — kind of phase it out.”

Rutledge said there is about $2.8 million left from the $14 million bond issue for the courthouse. He would like to take that money, along with some funds in reserves to help fund the project.

The option of a bond issue is on the table, but if that’s the case, he said he wants to keep the price tag as low as possible.

District 3 Supervisor Josh Todd

Todd favors renovating the current courthouse, as an extra 100,000 square feet of space is “going to have to happen.”

And using the second and third floors of the federal courthouse building temporarily is a great idea, he said. Using the annex to temporarily house staff, he said, would be a waste of money, as money to renovate empty rooms in the annex could be used toward the actual courthouse project.

“We would like to purchase the [federal courthouse],” Todd said. “There is a lot of office space in there. The maintenance on the building has been kept up.”

Todd said saving money isn’t his only goal with this project.

“Everybody wants it as cheap as they can get it, but we don’t need to compromise the longevity of the building for money,” Todd said. “We don’t swap one for another. We want to build the building to last throughout great-grandkids — not because we want to save money.”

Todd hopes to see a plan in place and have contracts out by the end of the year.

District 2 Supervisor Wayman Newell

Newell also supports renovating the existing courthouse and adding a 100,000 square-foot building. However, Newell thinks it would be best for staff to remain in the current courthouse building until the new addition is completed, then move into the new building and start the renovation, unless a deal can be negotiated relative to the federal courthouse building.

“We could work something out if they gave us the court building,” Newell said, citing a situation where a school board in Alabama obtained a federal courthouse at no charge.

In fact, Lafferty said such a plan is on the table.

“We’re in near constant communication with the United States Postal Service — I’ve talked to them this week,” Lafferty said. “We may not get it for free but for a substantially discounted price that would bring it back to its intended governmental purpose, which is to serve citizens and taxpayers.

“We haven’t even started the process of talking cost with the postal service yet. There are so many unknowns with the buildings.”

“The only way you could do is with bonds,” Newell said. “If you tied all of it together … parking, jail, courthouse, federal building — I just don’t believe that would pass if it went to a vote…

“I’m looking forward to getting started on the courthouse plan – whatever it may be. It’s been long enough.”